Bridge work nears completion

GREENVILLE — The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) has released an update on the new Mississippi River bridge under construction at Greenville. The new bridge could see traffic as early as this summer.

Contractor Massman/Traylor Bros. has completed the main span of the four-lane cable-stayed structure. This $110 million project began in December 2001 and has been completed and released from maintenance.

The Arkansas approach portion of the project is roughly 1.25 miles long and consists of a four-lane roadway and a four-lane conventional bridge section that ties existing U.S. 82 in Arkansas to the main span. Austin Bridge & Road is the contractor working on this $66-million project. Work began in March 2006. The MDOT reports Austin has finished pouring all bridge deck concrete.

The Mississippi approach project is roughly 1.80 miles long and consists of a four-lane roadway and a four-lane conventional bridge section that ties existing U.S. 82 in Mississippi to the main span. Hill Brothers/Jensen, a joint venture, is the contractor on this $86-million project. Work began on this project in April 2006 and has been completed.

The demolition of the Old Highway 82 Bridge project consists of finishing the new bridge with a latex modified concrete riding surface. Thereafter, traffic will be shifted onto the new bridge and crews will remove the old bridge, which has been a transportation hazard for decades.

The U.S. 82 Bypass project near Greenville is broken up into four separate phases. Phase I is currently under contract. The contractor awarded this project was Tanner Construction Company Inc. The original contract bid price is $32 million in which the contractor will be responsible for the grade, drain and bridge construction that will produce approximately six miles of interstate four-lane highway with two large interchanges, one at State Route 454/existing U.S. Highway 82 near the river bridge and another at State Route 1, and grade separation bridges at local roads. This project began in March 2008 and is about 35 percent complete. The projected completion date is September 2010. Phase II is to be let in the winter of 2010 and will be a grade, drain and bridge project approximately nine miles long. It will be the same interstate-type facility with one large interchange at existing U. S. 82 in Leland, and grade separation bridges at local roads.